. The point is not how sensational it can be, but whether it can make the audience resonate from life.
The essence of People like us is an old story about forgiving and redeeming each other. Several characters in the story are evading the problems they have encountered. Each of them struggles and tears in the "cocoon" that they weave, but they didn't use the courage to break the "cocoon".
Sam Harper, the protagonist of the film, made his career fall into a trough due to a stupid decision. Facing bankruptcy, he received the news of his father's death. Obviously, the death of his father who had a bad relationship with him didn't have much impact on Sam, but the $150,000 and a note left by his father made waves in Sam's peaceful life. Sam found his half-sister Frankie through the information on the note. Frankie is a distressed single mother. She is a bartender and lives in a small apartment with her son. To make matters worse, she is also an alcoholic who is quitting alcohol. Sam concealed his identity with the original intention of monopolizing $150,000 and met Frankie. He approached the lives of his sister Frankie and his nephew Josh. So, after a cliché plot and a little bit of blood, Sam confessed his identity, learned to stop avoiding problems, and worked hard to repair the mistakes he had committed.
Putting aside the somewhat plain and tacky plot above, I really like the views expressed in the movie. People are not perfect, we will always make mistakes, we will escape, we will retreat, but we are always growing, to forgive, to correct, to continue our lives.
The most ironic thing about this film is also a big thing that Sam and Frankie have in common. They both feel that they lack the love of their father, and they both work very hard to get their father's attention. Although Sam has lived with his father since he was a child, according to him, the only thing that makes him happy with his father is that his father always takes him to the park on Sundays. Father never gets out of the car, just sits in it so that he can listen to his sample records (Sam and Frankie’s father is a music producer). In Sam's eyes, he was no match for a stupid record in his father's hands. Frankie, who has been living in a single-parent family, is most eager for his father to see himself more and take himself to the park for a picnic. When she was 15 years old, in order to see her father, she bought a little dress specially. She waited outside the office for an hour, then was taken to a music party, stood quietly in the corner, and warned herself not to shed another tear for this so-called "father". She hated the family that took away her father. She hated that she could only look at the rear lights of his car and watch him leave.
At the end of the story, the siblings stood in the storage room of their father, watching the video recording the two of them playing together. In the soft sunlight, there were two childish smiling faces. In the park with the green lawn, they did not know each other, but they seemed to know each other for a long time, talking and playing happily. In the dim storage room, the yellow light of the old-fashioned player hit Sam and Frankie’s faces. It was also at that moment that the resentment and incomprehension towards his father turned into Frankie’s initial shock and what followed. Moved and torrential tears.
"I waited for him to change his mind and waited all my life. But you were the one who was waiting." This was the salvation Sam brought to Frankie. This is a daughter's forgiveness for her irresponsible father.
In getting along with Frankie and Josh, Sam completed a self-transformation. He no longer evades problems and shirks responsibility. He voluntarily gave up $150,000 in order to let his nephew live a better life. He returned to his girlfriend, opened his heart, and bravely faced his failed career.
"Because we are a family, family members often make mistakes. I am the one who makes the most. I ask for your forgiveness... Let me be your family. I am your brother. I want you to be mine. Sister." This is Sam's self-redemption.
And Sam's mother, she knew Frankie and her mother existed from the beginning. She was angry, struggled, and finally forced her husband to swear to leave them in order to protect her family and her son. She knew that her actions had brought harm to another family, but in order to protect her son, she would rather bury this conscience in her heart. Because of the death of her husband, this secret was eventually discovered. Faced with her son's questioning, she was too stubborn to bow her head. Because of the son's phrase "We will never think the same on this matter, but I love you", guilt, grievance and self-blame finally found an outlet for catharsis. When she saw Josh who came to look for Sam, she looked at the grandson of her dead partner, the dark cloud that had haunted her for half of her life, just scattered in the child's jerky smile.
I really like the end of the story. I didn't deliberately make it happen, and put together a happy ending. In front of the old player, quietly watching the precious video left by their irresponsible father, Sam and Frankie found their most precious each other.
I can't pretend that I can forgive this father who died in the first place. Because of his irresponsibility, he failed two families. Because of his weakness, he hurt the two children and deprived them of the possibility of understanding each other. However, seeing him picking up the video recorder, sitting in the car, trying his best to capture the scenes of the two children playing, carefully watching their every move, it is difficult for me to hate such a character.
People like us make mistakes and mess things up. However, we will forgive, correct, and live hard.
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